Daimler and Nissan invest $1.36 bln to develop, build small cars

FRANKFURT, June 27 (Reuters) - Daimler and
Renault Nissan will invest 1 billion euros ($1.36
billion) to develop small cars and build a factory in Mexico,
the companies said on Friday, in a step that deepens cooperation
between the Mercedes and Infiniti brands.

The companies, which will share costs for the joint venture,
said they will build a new plant with a production capacity of
300,000 vehicles in Aguascalientes, Mexico, where Nissan already
has a factory.

In March, sources told Reuters that Mercedes and Infiniti
plan to pool development of compact cars to cut costs, expand
the German carmaker's North American production footprint and
broaden the Infiniti lineup.